Lack Of Skubal-Skenes Head-To-Head Meeting Leaves Former MLB Catcher A.J. Pierzynski Disappointed

Baseball fans were wildly disappointed when what seemed like a miraculous rainout set up a head-to-head matchup between two of the best pitchers in the game — Detroit's Tarik Skubal and Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes — didn't pan out after the two aces were announced as starters for different games in Thursday's split doubleheader.

On the latest episode of OutKick's Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich, former Big League catcher and current broadcaster, A.J. Pierzynski, talked to Dan Dakich about his take on the situation.

Skubal is set to start the first game, while the Pirates will use Skene in the second, which led Dakich to ask how something like this is decided.

"I hope not," Pierzynski said after being asked whether one pitcher might ask not to pitch against the other, "Dude. Tarik Skubal — let me tell you something, man — Tarik Skubal, ain't backing down from nobody. That dude's a horse. He's awesome."

The former White Sox catcher then gave his philosophy on how to handle pitching when faced with a doubleheader.

"I wanted my best going in game one, right?" Pierzynski said. "So I knew where I was at in game two of a doubleheader, because these are nine-inning doubleheaders. You've got to cover 18 innings as a team. So, I wanted my best guy going the first game and giving me as much as he could. So then I knew what I had to cover in the second game, right?"

While he noted that there's always a chance that a team's ace could get lit up in the first game and come out early, that's not something that happens to Skubal very often.

"So I'd want him going first game, and then whoever. And then I figure out the second game, if I'm (Tigers manager) AJ Hinch, and that's kind of what they're doing," he said.

Pierzynski — who said that as a catcher, he always wanted to play in the first game — noted that it's too late for Hinch and Pirates manager Don Kelly to make the switch and give the people what they want, but noted that they have their reasons for making the pitching decisions that they have.

"I mean, you would think that would be must-see TV, but both teams are looking out for their best," Pierzynski said.